poster image: Take the Stairs ChallengeThe Take the Stairs Challenge provided UWindsor employees with extra incentive to make a healthy choice.

Climbing stairs offers health benefits—and prizes—to employees

The Take the Stairs Challenge was just the extra incentive Alida De Marco needed to forego the elevator.

The Leddy Library’s circulation coordinator, she won a prize draw for participants in the wellness project, which saw UWindsor employees add more physical activity to their workdays.

“We sit a lot. It’s just nice to be active,” De Marco says. “I do take the stairs, but the competition gave me a little encouragement to be more consistent about it.”

The Department of Human Resources sponsored the challenge, a project of the Workplace Wellness Committee. Teams and individuals tracked their stair-climbing, claiming a total of almost 57,000 flights of stairs during the contest period, November 9 to December 4.

Taking the stairs has a number of health benefits, says organizer Marcela Ciampa, manager of employee engagement and development.

“It can help you maintain a healthy body weight, develop a higher aerobic capacity, and build strong bones, muscles and joints,” she says.

The prize draw offered UWindsor gift cards. De Marco won in the individual category; the team prize went to the Faculty of Education entry—Tania Lepera, Abby Nakhaie, Glenn Rideout, Carol Kong-Dai and Pierre Thibodeau.

Find more information, including the top three climbing teams and individuals, on the challenge website.